“Powerful” poetry collaboration shows how Mancunians really feel

Heathrow airport have teamed up with critically-acclaimed spoken word artist, Caleb Femi, to launch his new poem A Tale of Modern Britain.

The collaboration comes in light of the popularity of the airport amongst Brits- with over 78 million visitors each year.

The poem has been described as “a beautiful and modern description of travel” and aims to celebrate Heathrow’s role as the gateway to the UK.

Caleb Femi stands in Heathrow airport

Femi, who has written and narrated the piece, says that his inspriation comes from his own personal experiences with travelling.

The short film showcases various moments at the airport; such as emotional reunions, excitement and ‘behind the scenes’ style footage from the airfield.

Spoken word artist, Caleb Femi, stands at Heathrow Airport’s runway

Explaining why he was attracted to the project, Femi stated: “I’ve loved immersing myself in the stories of different travellers to piece together a portrait of the country in 2018.”

He continued: “I hope people enjoy watching the video, which celebrates what it means to be British and the emotions that unite us all when we travel.”

To mark the launch of the poem, Heathrow conducted research into Mancunians’ views on Britain to find out what ‘home’ really means to them.

The research revealed that Mancunians voted the spontaneous singing of Oasis’s ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ following the Manchester arena attack in May last year, as the most defining moment of 2017 for the city.

According to the research, Mancunians also voted The Beckhams, Mo Farah, James Corden and the Royals as the best representatives of modern-day Britain.

Highlighting what a global community Britain is, a further 22% of Mancunians say their main purpose for travel is to visit their extended family.

Finally, the research found that the welcoming view of the local pub on the journey back from the airport is the moment at which almost one in four people feel truly back in Britain.

Heathrow’s Chief Executive, John Holland-Kaye, commented on the poem, stating: “The UK is a culture that thrives on its connections with the rest of the world.

“We hope that people really enjoy this ode to the UK as a celebration of Britain as a nation.”